Idaho Republican Helen Chenoweth, a heroine for Christian conservatives nation-wide, by admitting to an adulterous relationship, after being confronted by a newspaper, The Idaho Statesman.

``Fourteen years ago, when I was a private citizen and a single woman, I was involved in a relationship that I came to regret, that I was not proud of,'' Chenoweth said of her six-year relationship with Vern Ravenscroft, a former state Legislator who was and remains married.

The newspaper said it decided to run the story after Chenoweth aired two television advertisements this week accusing Clinton of damaging the office of the President.

Chenoweth's admission followed a statement last week by Indiana Republican Dan Burton disclosing that he had an extra-marital affair with an Indiana woman and had a son with her in the early 1980s.Burton spoke after learning that a national magazine was investigating his life.

Burton, who like Chenoweth has been one of Clinton's fiercest critics in the Congress, said he had paid child support for the boy but had taken no part in his upbringing.

Nor is the growing examination of politicians' personal lives confined to national figures. In Montgomery county, Maryland, a suburban area of Washington D.C., state attorney Robert Dean admitted a ``personal relationship'' with a top female prosecutor who is suing him for sexual discrimination.